Wednesday was third straight day with highs in the 60s 

It was another mild day Wednesday across the Chicago area as highs reached 60 degrees or warmer for the third straight day.

We began with a fair amount of cloud coverage, but the skies cleared quickly by late morning allowing for bright sunshine to emerge in the wake of a passing cold front.  

Wednesday gusts  

It was a windy day with gusts passing 30 mph at several locations as the Chicago area sat in a tight pressure gradient with low pressure to the northeast behind the cold front and high pressure to the west in the Plains. 

Wednesday U.S. highs and departure from normal

It was a mild day relative to normal for much of the nation as the bulk of the country basked in warmer than normal temperatures.  The overall average across the Lower 48 was around 64-degrees with 140 million folks enjoying highs of 70-degrees or warmer.